Create a Vibrant Peacock in Adobe Illustrator

In this
tutorial we will get to know one of the most useful Adobe Illustrator features
– the Appearance panel – and draw a
fabulous colorful peacock with the help of various effects.

The Appearance
panel helps us to add as many fills and strokes as we need, applying various
effects and arranging them in the necessary order, all applied to one object. Let’s start!

1. Draw a Vivid Eye

Step 1

We’ll start from scratch by creating a New
Document of 600 x 800px size and File > Place our doodle on the
Artboard. Set the Blending Mode of
your image to Multiply in order to
make the lower objects visible under your sketch.

Double-click on your sketch layer and check
the Template box, thus locking the
layer and making the sketch more transparent for your convenience.

Step 2

Start by forming the basic eye shape, using the
Pen Tool (P) and filling it with a
three-colored linear gradient to make in more dimensional.Create the iris base above the eyeball with the help of the Ellipse Tool (L).

Step 3

Fill the iris with a chocolate brown color
and Add New Fill in the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance).
Create a Radial Gradient from brown
on one side, yellow in the middle and transparent orange on the other side, as
shown on the screenshot, in order to form a pupil in the center of the iris.

Step 4

Move on and Add New Stroke of 2px Weight,
Align Stroke to Inside inthe
Appearance panel. Fill it with a two-colored Linear Gradient from dark-brown
to bright orange.

Add another Stroke,
setting it's size to 0.5px, filling
it with solid brown color and Align
Stroke to Inside. Edit the iris fill, adding new gradient with Blending Mode Screen, making the eye
brighter.

Step 5

Continue adding details to the eye. Create a 30-sides shape with the Polygon Tool and apply Effect > Distort & Transform >
Pucker & Bloat to it, turning our polygon into the sun-like
shape. Fill the shape with a Linear Gradient from black to orange and switch it
to Blending ModeScreen.

Step 6

We need to add some reflections to the eye, making it more watered and realistic. Draw a curvy shape with the Pencil Tool (N) and cut off the
unneeded part with the help of Shape Builder
Tool (Shift-M).

Add a half-moon shape in the bottom of the eye by
duplicating the basic circle shape and moving the copy a few pixels up. Delete
the unneeded part and use the ScreenBlending Mode to make the reflections half-transparent.

Step 7

When satisfied with all the details and
reflections, group all the iris parts. Duplicate the basic eyeball shape and
place the copy above all other objects (Shift-Control-]).
Make a Clipping Mask to hide the
iris in the eyeball shape.

Step 8

Now let’s add a shadow from the eyelid. We can make it right inside the clipping mask. Duplicate the basic eyeball
shape and move one of the copies as shown on the screenshot. Use the Minus Front function in the Pathfinder panel to form an arched shadow
shape. Fill the newly created shape with a Linear Gradient from brown to white
and switch it to Blending Mode Multiply.

Step 9

Change the color of the eyeball to make it mysteriously dark and add the eyelid by forming a new shape under the eyeball. Fill
it with dark skin-color and apply a default texture from the Swatches panel. You can find it in Swatches Libraries menu > Patterns
> Basic Graphics > Basic Graphics_textures.

Change the size of the
texture with the help of the Scale Tool
(S) by checking the Transform
Pattern box in the options and setting the Uniform Scale value to 40%.

Step 10

Add more details to the eyelids by creating
simple sharp shapes with the Pencil Tool
(N) and using the Blending ModeMultiply in order to blend them nicely with the body.

2. Render a
Realistic Beak

Step 1

Outline
your sketch with the help of the Pen
Tool (P) and form a basic beak shape.

Step 2

Make a
simple nostril by forming an ellipse and converting
one of its anchor points to angle. Fill
the new shape with a Radial Gradient.

Step 3

Add several
shapes for shadows and highlights to sculpt the natural parts of the beak,
making it more dimensional and true-to-life.

Step 4

Apply a
gentle Linear Gradient to the basic beak shape, making its tip slightly
lighter. Use the Blob Brush Tool (Shift-B) to separate the beak into the upper
and the lower “jaw” parts. Continue adding shadows, making the lower part
darker. Finally, put a light spot on the upper side of the beak, making in more
smooth and glossy, as if it reflects the light.

3. Create
the Peacock's Head & Body

Step 1

Start
tracing your sketch from the peacock’s head and move further to form the basic
body-shape. Fill it with a vibrant Linear Gradient from sky-blue on the top to
violet in the bottom. Use the Appearance
panel to add another fill with a Radial Gradient and put a bright lilac spot
on peacock’s chest.

Step 2

Start
adding the distinctive features on the peacock’s head – white plumage around
the eye and tiny feathers running from its beak to the inner corner of the eye.
Draw each feather group with a simple freehand shape using the Pencil Tool (N) and fill it with Linear Gradient from violet to
sparkling blue.

Step 3

At this
step we start adding the feather groups gradually on the peacock’s body. Draw
each shape one above the other, imitating the feather layers.

For more clarity,
I’ve filled them with various colors on the screenshot in order to separate the
layers from each other.

Step 4

Select the basic body shape
and drag it to the Graphic Styles
panel. Now you can apply the same appearance to any object! Group all the feather layers and duplicate them. Select both the
feather group copy and the basic body shape and Unite them in Pathfinder.
If the color has changed, just restore it from the Graphic Styles. Start coloring the feather layers one by one,
filling them with a Linear Gradient from blue to black and switching to Blending Mode Screen.

Step 5

Our peacock
lacks details now, so let’s add more feathers to make it fluffier! Copy each feather shape and move it by
holding the Alt key and dragging it down with the left mouse button. Arrange the feather shapes so that they fit
nicely onto the peacock’s neck.

Step 6

Add a few
shiny details to the plumage to make the character more radiant and whimsy.

Step 7

To make the body more solid, let’s add another fill to the feathers with a radial
gradient from shiny blue in the middle to transparent violet at the edge. I’ve
also modified the body color slightly, adding a blue “cap” on the peacock’s
head with the help of the Radial Gradient and the Appearance panel.

Step 8

Decorate
the peacock’s head with several layers of feathers, just as we did with its
body.

Step 9

This is how
our peacock looks like fully feathered! As you can see, we have some
transparent feathers left on both sides of the body. But don’t worry about that
– just duplicate those layers and Unite
them in Pathfinder, as we previously
did with the very first feather group.

4. Make the Vibrant Tail Plumage

The
distinctive feature of every male peacock – is its fantastic festive plumage.
We’ll start forming the tail from the smallest group of feathers.

Step 1

First of
all, let’s make a single shape and then just use its Graphic Style for all other elements.

Create a circle using the Ellipse Tool (L) and apply a gradient Fill and brown Stroke to it in the Appearance
panel. Set theStroke Weight to 3px and choose 1pt. Oval brush in the
Brushes panel to make our stroke more natural.

Add New Fill of same color as the stroke. Select the Fill and go to FX
> Path > Offset Path in the Appearance panel. Set the Offset Value to -10px and move to FX >
Distort & Transform > Roughen to give our feather a nice “hairy”
effect. Set the Size to 26% and the Detail value to 100 in
the Roughen Options menu. At this
step, the shape looks quite torn and messy. To make it more neat and detailed,
apply the FX > Distort &
Transform > Pucker & Bloat effect to the same fill, setting the
bloat value to 85%.

Step 2

The
convenience of the Appearance panel is hard to underestimate as it saves a huge
amount of time, while you are still working with one and the only object and
can easily change colors and effects of any fill or stroke you use.

Here I’ve
switched the color of the “hairy” part to dark-green and added a new fill with
radial gradient from green to white, setting the Blending Mode to Multiply. I’ve squashed the gradient
using the Gradient Tool (G) to make
it look like the cat’s eye.

Finally, add one more fill and make it slightly
smaller with the help of the Offset Path
effect. Apply a Linear Gradient from dark-orange to black and switch it to
Blending Mode Screen in order to form a glossy highlight effect above our feather.

Step 3

Extrude the
shape to make it move oval and check all the details in the Appearance panel. You can easily edit
them if some of the effects deform after reshaping the feather.

Step 4

Now we need
to form a tail. Place the created shape near the
lower part of the peacock’s body. Put the second feather of a smaller size at
some distance from the fist one, as shown on the screenshot.

Finally, select
both elements and go to Object >
Blend > Make. Use the Blend
Options to set the Spacing to Specified Steps, value equals 7.

Step 5

Now we need
to make our tail nicely curved. Draw an arched line with the Pen Tool (P). Go to Object > Blend > Replace Spine so that the elements will
align to the selected arc.

Step 6

Reflect the tail part over the vertical axis and
continue adding new parts, making the tail more detailed.

Step 7

You can
still change the Spacing value in
the Blend Options and Rearrange any feather elements in the blend group, making
the overall view more fancy and neat.

Step 8

Let’s move
on and create the famous peacock's “eye”-feather!

Start by forming and egg-shape
out of the ellipse by moving its side anchor points down a bit. Fill the
created shape with a gentle Linear Gradient from lighter orange on top to the
darker orange in the bottom.

Use the Appearance
panel to Add New Fill and apply
the Offset Path effect, making it
slightly larger than the basic shape. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and form a new shape above, filling it with Linear
Gradient of lighter and darker blue. Reshape the object, squashing it a bit, as
show on the screenshot.

Step 9

Put another
circle on top, filling it with night blue. Use the Direct Selection
Tool (A) for moving its anchor points and reshaping the circle into a new
shape, reminding a hoof print.

Step 10

Go to Object > Expand Appearance in order
to break the feather into separate elements. Select the green shape and convert
its lower anchor point to corner, making it more pointed.

Apply a Radial
Gradient to the yellow shape, making it shiny and golden. Add a glossy
green spot above the dark blue shape and switch it to Blending Mode Screen.

Finally, make the object more detailed and whimsy by
adding a few shadows and highlights at the edges of our feather.

Step 11

Now grab
the Blob Brush Tool (Shift-B) and
start drawing out long hairlines around the feather. Apply a vivid green-blue
gradient to the strokes. Put the hairlines behind our basic feather shape.

5. Render a
Detailed Feather Filled Background

Step 1

Now we can
use the created feathers to make our picture more ornate. Put the biggest
feathers above our peacock so that they cover the lower part of its body. Use
the Effect > Distort & Transform
> Free Distort function in order to change the perspective of some
feathers, so that they fit into the composition nicely.

Step 2

Continue
filling up the picture, this time using the “eye”-feather base and putting its
copies behind the green tail-feathers, making the tail more rich and decorated.

Step 3

Another
distinctive peacock’s feature is a bunch of cute small feathers at the back of
his head. Draw a few simple shapes using the Pencil Tool (N) and fill them with Linear Gradient from blue to
lilac. Place one copy below the main shape and Add New Fill in the Appearance
panel. Apply a Linear Gradient from lilac to white in the Blending Mode Screen in order to darken the
shape and separate it from the upper element. Make more copies in order to
create a fancy hairdo for our peacock.

Step 4

Make the
feathers more shiny and fancy by putting an ellipse on each feather, filled
with Linear Gradient from black to blue and to red. Switch the ellipses to Blending Mode Screen and delete the unneeded
parts using the Shape Builder tool
(Shift-M).

Step 6

Put the
created bunch of feathers on the peacock’s head and start filling the
background with details.

Step 7

Add long
feather shafts using the Blob Brush Tool
(Shift-B).

Step 8

Let’s
deepen the composition by selecting some of the feathers and applying the
following effect: Effect > Blur >
Gaussian Blur. Now it seems the blurred feathers are at farther distance
from the viewer.

Step 9

Draw a nice
curved line with the Blob Brush Tool
(Shift-B) and use the Blend Tool (W)
to create a smooth feather. Use a gentle Linear Gradient from green to blue in
order to fit the feathers into the overall color palette.

Step 10

Copy the
created Blend group and place it on each feather shaft.

Step 11

Apply a Gaussian Blur effect and Blending Mode Screen to the created hairlines in
order to make them more soft and transparent.

6. Add
Minor Details to the Peacock and Background

Step 1

Now we need
to add some shadows in order to emphasize the main object and to separate it
from the background. Select all of the peacock’s parts and group them.

Step 2

Duplicate
the selected group and Unite the
objects in Pathfinder. Fill the
newly created shape with Linear Gradient from dark-blue to white and switch it
to Blending Mode Multiply in order to create
a shadow from the peacock’s body.

Step 3

It’s time
to add some vivid color to the background! Create a rectangle of a size of our
Artboard using the Rectangle Tool (M)
and fill it with soft Radial Gradient from pale-lilac in the middle to dark
violet at the edge. Use another fill to add a deep night-blue color in the
bottom of the picture.

Step 4

Select the
blurred feathers and make them more transparent.

Step 5

Let’s add
some finishing touches to our peacock and make him more dimensional. Draw a
free shape that partly covers the bird’s chest. Delete the unneeded part with
the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M).
Turn the newly created object into a shadow in order to smooth out the edge of
the peacock’s body.

Use the
same method to create a shadow on the opposite side of the body.

Step 6

Draw
another curved drop-like shape in the center of the peacock’s body and fill it
with Linear Gradient from black to greyish yellow.

Step 7

Switch the
Blending Mode of the created object to Screen in order to make a bright
highlight on the peacock’s feathers.

Step 8

Finally,
observe the whole picture and add a few details here and there if you like. At
this step I just add one more fill to the background – a radial gradient from
blue on the edges to white in the center, switching it to Blending ModeMultiply, in order to make a nice vignette in the corners of the
background.

Step 9

When
satisfied with the result, go to File
> Save for Web (Alt-Shift-Control-S) and export your artwork. Don’t
forget to check the Clip to Artboard
box, so that the unneeded elements outside your Artboard won’t be included into
the composition.

Voila!
You’ve Finished Portraying the Glorious Peacock!

Good work!
I hope you’ve assured in the convenience and advantages of the Appearance panel and found some useful
tips and tricks in this tutorial! Have fun and never stop creating!

My name is YuLia Sokolova (Yuzach). I'm an illustrator and designer, creating fancy art and working with such companies as Envato, Disney, Ask.fm and many others.
Most of all I like to create whimsy patterns and textures, unique characters, trendy app stickers and various floral illustrations. I'm proficient with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw.
I love writing tutorials and sharing my knowledge! Hope you find some useful tips and tricks to use in your personal artworks :) Enjoy!